


Urban Sprawl

by keysmash



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Community College, Community: spn_j2_xmas, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Power Imbalance, Threesome, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-30
Updated: 2010-12-30
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:13:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keysmash/pseuds/keysmash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared's got a good routine going, and he's not sure how to react when things start to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Urban Sprawl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nowadventuring](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=nowadventuring).



> Beta by locknkey.

Jared still had a line full of customers to ring up at closing, but Jensen flipped the sign on the door right when the clock ticked over to 9:00. He never glanced into the darkened parking lot to see if anyone was coming in at the last minute, the way some of the other managers did when they closed, and Jared appreciated that. Last minute customers were never done in just a minute, even though they all swore otherwise.

Jared shot Jensen a thankful smile when he got on the other register, helping him get through the last of the line. They mostly had regular customers at the end of a summer night, who were all already on the store's email list, and either had a branded canvas tote or didn't want one. Jared rattled through his usual side of the conversation regardless, conscious of Jensen asking the same leading questions just a few feet away. Pestering the people in his line was Jared's least favorite part of the job, but it wasn't as bad as it could be: he wasn't trying to get credit card applications out of anyone, at least, like at his last gig. He might be filling up people's spam folders and sending them home with yet another trendy faux-green product, but at least he wasn't fucking with their credit scores.

He smiled widely at the very last woman in line when she stepped up to the counter, and started ringing up her books while she dug through her purse.

"You find everything okay tonight?" he asked.

"About as well as I expected to," she said. "I'm trying to find something that just came out the other week, so of course it's not here yet."

"No, probably not," Jared admitted. "You'll have a hard time finding something used if it's a new release like that."

"Do y'all take MasterCard?" she asked, once she found her wallet.

"Sure do," Jared said. "You can slide it through the card reader whenever you want."

She nodded at him and did, and then Jared started trying to get her to join the mailing list.

Next to him, Jensen counted down the other registers, noisily stacking coins on the counter before palming them into a blue bank-bag and recording the amounts. He was humming to himself, and Jared tapped his fingers in time against the edge of the counter while he waited for the receipt to print. In the back of the store, he could hear Louis and the new girl Ana talking as they presumably straightened the aisles. Over in the music corner, Christine was checking the new shipment of CDs to make sure they all worked, sticking each disc into the stereo and playing the first few seconds of the first track.

Jensen walked the customer to the door once Jared finished her transaction, and he locked the door behind her while Jared started counting his register. Jensen stayed at the door for a moment, doing Jared-didn't-know-what, then turned and came back to the registers. He was walking easier than he had been just seconds before, and when he leaned against the counter next to Jared, and Jared watched out of the corner of his eyes as Jensen picking up the phone to make the nightly post-close announcements.

"Alright, kids, do one last sweep of your area for customers, but I'm pretty sure we're all alone," he said. Hearing Jensen next to him as well as broadcast through the PA system above messed with Jared's head, and he put down the stack of bills he'd been counting for a moment. He turned to face Jensen instead, matching his position, and Jensen grinned at him before going on. He held Jared's gaze as he spoke. "Everyone get your departments ready for the openers tomorrow, but don't take your time about it. I want us all out of here by 9:20."

Someone whooped in the back of the store, and Jensen shook his head as he hung up the phone. Jared raised an eyebrow at him, not getting back to work just yet.

"Hot date tonight, bossman?" he asked, trying to hold down his grin.

Jensen snorted and waved his hand at Jared's unfinished register. "Chop chop," he said.

"Dodging the question, I notice," Jared said, but he got back to work anyway, counting and recording the rest of the money in his drawer and then handing it all over for Jensen to initial. Jensen took the money to the safe in the cash office without glancing back, and Jared gathered up the stack of books that had been left at the register. He returned them to their departments as quickly as he could, running into Louis in nonfiction. They grinned at each other, both a little excited at the thought of getting out early, and then Jared went back up front, to wipe down the surfaces.

It was 9:23 when Jensen unlocked the door let them go, staying behind for a moment to set the alarm while everyone else rushed to the parking lot. Jared let himself into his car and rolled down the windows before putting it in gear, trying to let out some of the hot air. He waved to everyone as he left, turning out of the shopping center and onto the road that'd take him home.

The only traffic light between the bookstore and Jared's apartment complex was red when he pulled up, and he checked his text messages with his building in view. It was less than a mile from work to home, and Jared had walked there and back earlier in the year, before it got hot. But the road obviously hadn't been designed for pedestrian traffic, and there wasn't any public transit at all, so most of the time, he bought gas he could barely afford and drove.

His favorite spot was free when Jared got home, and he grinned as he parked and turned off the car. It was next to the dumpster, but that meant it got shade throughout the day, and so there was usually pretty fierce competition for the spot. Jared was hardly the only person to prefer parking there; the shade was more than worth the inconvenience.

He drank a glass of water when he got inside, frowned at the contents of his fridge, and kicked out of his clothes on the way to his bathroom. He showered quickly, idly thinking about the stretch of Jensen's grey jeans over his ass as he'd bent to look on a bottom shelf earlier that day, but he didn't jerk off. Instead, he got out of the tub before the water even heated up all the way. He stepped into a pair of basketball shorts and let himself air-dry as he picked his clothes off the floor, then looked around the main room with a sigh and picked it up as well, clearing his junk mail from the couch and his empty lunch plate from the table.

He was deciding between getting a beer or another glass of water when someone knocked on the door. Jared raised his eyebrows when he checked the oven's clock — it was a little after 10:00 — and then went to open it.

Jensen stood outside, still in the grey pants and white button-down he'd worn to work. He'd at least taken off his name tag, but there was a ballpoint pen tucked behind his ear. Jared blinked at him, then shook his head and held the door wider, letting him inside.

"You're early," he said, and wrapped his hand around the back of Jensen's neck as soon as he locked the door again, pulling him in for a kiss. Jensen laughed against his mouth and settled his hands at Jared's hips.

"Ordered food instead of picking it up," he said, and then stopped talking in order to suck at Jared's bottom lip for a while. "Had to call it in before they stopped delivering for the night. Should be here in ten, fifteen minutes."

"And here I was planning on blowing you before we ate," Jared said, sliding one hand down to cup Jensen's ass through the fucking pants. He must have kept them on purposefully instead of changing like he usually did, as if maybe he'd noticed Jared checking him out. He grinned and slipped his hand into one of Jensen's pockets. "But if someone's gotta get the door in a little bit, that changes things up."

"You could try and see how quickly you could get me off," Jensen suggested, pressing his hips against Jared's. He was thickening up in his pants, against Jared's thigh, and Jared his thumb back and forth over Jensen's ass. He was getting hard as well, still geared up from thinking about this exact thing in the shower, and he tugged Jensen closer.

"Or I can see how close I can get you, before the food gets here." He slid a knee between Jensen's legs, getting them closer to each other. "Or we could stop talking about it and just fool around until then."

"Or that," Jensen said, and pushed Jared backwards across the room until they both tumbled down onto the couch.

The next knock on the door came about a quarter of an hour later, and since Jensen was still dressed, and hadn't had anyone sucking on his nipples until they were bright red peaks, he answered and paid for the food. Jared stayed stretched out on the couch with his legs spread, with one foot resting on the floor. When Jensen came back, carrying the food in one hand and two glasses of water carefully in the other, they looked at each other for a long time, neither of them breathing steadily, before Jensen laid the food on the coffee table and Jared sat up with a sigh, making room for Jensen next to him.

"You hungry now, or do you wanna eat later?" Jensen asked, sitting next to Jared and putting a hand on the inside of his thigh. His pinky just grazed Jared's dick and he hissed, thrusting into the touch.

"Later." He pushed Jensen sideways, so now he was sprawling out on the couch, with his legs far enough apart that Jared could kneel between them. "Get your shirt," he said, and set to opening Jensen's pants while he unbuttoned his shirt, fumbling a little with the row of buttons. He only tugged Jensen's pants open enough to get his dick out of his underwear, letting the grey fabric hang open on either side of his crotch. Jensen rubbed his hands over his own thighs, pressing against the cloth, and Jared followed the movement with his own fingers before wrapping his hand around Jensen's cock. He jerked it a few times, watching Jensen's belly tense, and then lowered himself to press his face to Jensen's thigh.

"These pants have been driving me crazy," he said, kissing Jensen's leg through the fabric before shifting to mouth over his balls.

Jensen shuddered, his cock twitching in Jared's grip. "Thought they might've," he said, and grabbed hold of Jared's hair.

He took the hint and let Jensen tug him up to suck at the head of his cock. Jensen thrust up again, sliding his dick further into Jared's mouth. Jared let him, but didn't take him down further, when Jensen's hips sank back onto the couch. He kept his lips soft around Jensen's crown and just sucked gently for a few moments. He rested his hands on Jensen's belly, more to feel his breathing than to hold him still, and Jensen went with it for a long time, tensing and relaxing his muscles instead of trying to thrust.

Finally, when Jensen oozed a few drops of precome onto Jared's tongue, he pulled off, replacing his mouth with his hand and resting his chin on Jensen's hip as he looked up at him. Jensen's face, and what Jared could see of his chest, were flushed, and he opened his eyes as he leaned up on his elbows. He met Jared's gaze with wide eyes, and Jared's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't really meant to drag this out, and he almost felt bad for teasing now.

"You want me to keep going like this?" he asked, and cleared his throat before going on. "Is this good?"

"It's real good, man," Jensen said, and let himself fall back onto the couch. "Don't stop, just —" He grabbed the base of his dick and nudged it towards Jared's mouth. Jared wrapped his mouth around Jensen again, closing his lips just under Jensen's head and sucking a little harder this time. Jensen didn't let go of his cock but started stroking himself, bumping his knuckles against Jared's chin with every tug.

Jared paid attention, increasing the suction as Jensen began breathing faster. He cupped one hand around Jensen's balls when he started moaning and squeezed after a moment, constant gentle pressure. Jensen came, gasping, when Jared flicked his tongue over the slit of his cock.

He was still pretty out of it when Jared let his cock slip out of his mouth. He lay on the couch with his eyes closed, still panting, and Jared knelt up, shoving his own shorts down around his thighs and wrapping his hands around his dick. He got a half-dozen strokes in before Jensen even opened his eyes.

"Hey," he said, reaching for Jared. He laced his fingers through Jared's, so they tugged at his dick together, and wrapped his other hand around Jared's balls, pulling slightly in time with their strokes.

"Oh, fuck," Jared said, arching into their hands. He stared down, at Jensen still wearing his work clothes, at Jensen sweaty and flushed underneath him, and then closed his eyes and came. Jensen worked him through it, not letting up even when Jared tried to pull his hand away. When Jared did look again, out of breath, he found Jensen covered in come.

"See, delivery worked just fine," Jensen said, grinning. He gave Jared's cock one more squeeze and then let go, sitting up a little and making sure he didn't have jizz on his clothes. Jared rolled his eyes and scooted back to the far end of the couch, giving Jensen a little room to clean up. He pulled his shorts back up and shifted his jaw from side to side, trying to stretch out the little bit of ache, while Jensen took off his shirt and wiped his belly with napkins from the takeout bag.

"I'm gonna shower," he said, and nodded to the food. "Go ahead, if you want."

.

Jared ate an egg roll, but otherwise waited for Jensen. The food was edging towards room temperature by the time he came back out, wearing a pair of Jared's boxers. They ate on the couch, since it was a choice between using the coffee table or standing in the kitchen, and Jensen moved the stack of bills and other mail aside when he finished eating.

"Here, gimme those," Jared said, holding out a hand. Jensen passed them over and Jared sorted through them again, dividing them according to due-date. He was left with an envelope from the apartment manager's office at the bottom of the stack, which he'd received the day before but hadn't actually opened.

"Anything bad?" Jensen asked, after Jared frowned at the envelope for a few moments without opening it.

"Hope not." Jared opened it, but relaxed as he started reading. "No, it's nothing. Just a reminder that my lease's almost up."

Jensen paused for just a moment in gathering the take-out boxes together, then continued again. "That right?"

"Yeah, I've got another month." Jared folded the letter and looked around, from the closet by the front door, to the kitchen that was really just a glorified counter running along one side of the living room, to the closed bedroom door, to the sliding glass door that led to the tiny patio and served as one of his two windows. It wasn't a bad place to live, but this was suburban Texas, not a big city, and 500 square feet was far from the high life. "Shit, I bet my rent's going up if I stay."

"Sucks, man," Jensen said, after another short pause. "You want me to put this stuff in the fridge?"

"Sure," Jared said, and helped him carry things.

They watched TV for a while longer after that, Jensen with one leg swung over Jared's lap, until Jared found himself yawning.

"I'm gonna go crash," he said, nudging Jensen's thigh regretfully off of his own. "You staying tonight?"

"Nah, I thought I'd amp my walk of shame up a notch," Jensen said, smoothing Jared's boxers over his thighs. Jared rolled his eyes, grinning a little, and Jensen returned the smile. "I wanna see how this ends," he said, pointing to the TV, "but I'll be there in a few minutes."

Jared nodded, then kissed Jensen on the temple and got ready for bed. The episode must have been almost over, because Jensen turned the lights and the TV off while Jared was in the bathroom. They crowded in front of the mirror, both of them trying to brush their teeth at once. Finally, Jared crawled into bed, and Jensen followed him close behind.

Their goodnight kisses always ran more to making out in bed. Jared was trying to remember what time Jensen had to work the next day, to figure out if another round was as good of an idea as it felt, when Jensen pulled away, propping himself up on one elbow and studying Jared's face.

"Are you gonna sign the lease?" he asked, out of nowhere.

"Yeah?" Jared frowned at him, a little thrown. "I mean, if the new rent is too high, I might go someplace else, but I've got to live somewhere."

Jensen sucked at the inside of his cheek for a moment. Jared thought his face was flushed, although he couldn't be certain, only seeing Jensen in the blue light of his alarm clock.

"Move in with me," Jensen said, and looked away, doing his self-deprecating grin, when Jared raised his eyebrows. "You know, if you want. I want you to."

Jared thought about it, even while he was figuring out how to say, _uh, no, probably we shouldn't_. Jensen's place was bigger than his, and nicer. His complex let residents paint, so he didn't have the same vaguely institutional white walls as Jared, and he also had cable, and high-speed Internet, and a laundry room off his kitchen, instead of using communal machines one building over. Jared didn't know what Jensen's rent was, but it couldn't be twice as much as his own, so he'd be saving money if he moved in. Things had been tight in the year since Chad got remarried and left Jared without a roommate, and Jared could do so many things with the extra money: get the A/C in his car fixed, buy into the store's health insurance program when open enrollment came around, upgrade his phone, buy a decent set of pots and pans so he could cook more, or even — _god_ — pay the pet deposit twice over, and move his dogs back out of his parent's place.

He could fall asleep this way this every night, Jensen's feet tangled with his, and he could have Jensen there with him every time he woke up in the night, and when the alarm went off in the morning. He could live like that, with his dogs asleep on the floor, and with better food in the fridge, better furniture in the living room —

And Jensen's roommate asleep on the other side of the wall, Jensen's roommate who he'd never even met. Jared closed his eyes for a moment, wanting all of it anyway, and then opened them again.

"Look, I do want to," he said. He tried to sound as regretful as possible, which wasn't a stretch, because it always sucked to put yourself out there and get turned down, but Jensen slumped anyway, lying back down and looked disappointed. Jared leaned over and kissed him, a hard press of their mouths together, but Jensen didn't relax into it, and eventually he lay back down as well.

"It's been what, four months?" Jared asked, trying to be reasonable. They'd actually been together closer to four months and two weeks, but Jensen was a smart guy. He had to know that it was too soon, lease renewal or no.

"Four and a half," Jensen muttered, and then looked at Jared again. Jared couldn't bite down entirely on his smile, and Jensen grinned a little in return. "But since we're out of high school, I don't think we're supposed to keep track that specifically anymore."

Jared shook his head. "No." He thought for a moment. "They'd find out at work, too. I'd have to change my contact info for payroll and shit, and, come on, man, I've never even talked to your roommate before. We can't just decide to move in together while she's out of the country."

"She's back in the country by now," Jensen said, but he huffed and rolled onto his side, facing Jared. When Jared turned with him but didn't say anything, Jensen sighed and hooked one arm over Jared's hip. "Yeah, I know. I know. Sorry."

"No, just —" Jared shook his head and Jensen looked him in the eyes again, hopefully. "It's sort of fast, but." He studied Jensen's face for a moment, at the glint of neon in his eyes and over the sharp lines of his cheekbones. "Maybe I sign for six more months, and we see where we are from there."

Jensen bit his lip, starting to smile. "Yeah?"

Jared leaned to kiss him. "Yeah," he said, smiling widely against Jensen's mouth. Ten months wasn't a whole hell of a lot of time, either, but Jared's heart had started kicking faster at the beginning of this conversation, and it skipped when he realized he'd said _later_ , instead of _no_. He wrapped his arms around Jensen and pulled them closer together, pressing their hearts against each other's.

.

 

Jared's alarm went off the next day at 8:30. He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face while it played, listening to the morning DJs talk about the results of some reality show the night before, and didn't move to turn it off or to get up until he heard Jensen's breathing change as he woke up. He sighed and rolled over without saying anything, but Jared leaned over him to reach the nightstand and turn it all the way off, then leaned to kiss his shoulder.

"Sorry," he said.

Jensen hummed, settling further into the pillow and probably going back to sleep for another hour, and Jared rested against him for a moment before screwing up his face and forcing himself out of bed. At least the mornings weren't cold in the summer. He tried to be quiet as he dressed, conscious of Jensen still asleep just a few feet away from his closet.

The day was just starting to heat up when Jared headed out the door, locking it on Jensen still in bed. He left at 9:10, which was twenty minutes before class started, and since it wasn't raining, he had more than enough time to get there. He walked across the apartment complex's parking lot, checking his mail when he passed by the boxes outside the office, and then headed off the property entirely. There wasn't a sidewalk, so he walked in the grass for half a block until he reached an intersection, then pushed the button to cross the street. The road was full of cars all headed to the same place as Jared, the community college right across the street from his apartment, but he didn't have to circle the parking lot the way they all did, trying to find a spot. He walked across the street once he got the signal and headed directly for his building, making it to class with time to spare.

It was hotter when class got out at 11:00, and the mile from his classroom to his front door always felt longer than the mile going the other direction. Jared was sweaty and uncomfortable by the time he unlocked his apartment again. He'd finished the bottle of water he brought with him, but he filled the battered Nalgene with tap water anyway and glanced around the place as he drank about half of it. Jensen's car had still been in the parking lot, since he didn't go into the store until 2:00 that day and could afford to stay, but the living room hadn't been touched, and it wasn't like him to sleep that late. Jared refilled his water bottle again and put it in the fridge, then left his school bag on the counter and headed into the bedroom.

"Hey," Jensen said, sitting up in bed shirtless. He was leaning against the wall with Jared's laptop on his thighs, and he scooted over a little when Jared came in. "How'd class go?"

Jared shrugged, toeing out of his shoes before climbing onto the bed. "Section asshole is still an asshole, but I don't think there's any changing that."

"What'd he do this time?"

"Tried to ask the professor if he really had to cite all his sources every single time he used them." Jared slipped his arm around Jensen's shoulders and tugged him closer. "Didn't get very far with it. Christ, have you really just been playing Plants vs. Zombies all day?"

"No," Jensen said quickly, and paused the game he was playing online, then opened a new tab. "I paid my bills first. And then dozed for a while. And _then_ started playing." When Jared laughed, he just shrugged. "Besides, I want to be good and rested for when Danneel comes back tonight. I have a feeling there will be lots of drinking and not much sleep."

"Or she's going to be cranky from the plane," Jared said. "You really think she's going to want to drink?"

"She's just coming in from Louisiana," Jensen said. "Visited her family for a while few days."

"Oh," Jared said. "That makes sense."

"Sure you don't want to come?" Jensen asked, pushing Jared onto his back and rolling atop him, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Next time," Jared said. "I still have that paper to finish, and I'm opening tomorrow morning." He thumped his knee against Jensen's side, drawing his legs up and apart enough for Jensen to settle more firmly against him. "Which I'd think you'd remember, since you did the schedules for the week."

"Yeah, like three weeks ago," Jensen said, leaning down to nuzzle Jared's neck. "I didn't even know exactly when she was getting back into town yet."

"Uh huh." Jared slid his hand between them, worming his way into Jensen's boxers and wrapping his fingers around his dick. Jensen was mostly hard to begin with, and Jared grinned as he pressed his thumb over Jensen's vein, moving slowly so that he hardened further. "You been lying here jerking off or something?"

"Maybe," Jensen said, thrusting into Jared's hand. "Your bed is nice, man. It smells like you."

Jared laughed into his neck, squirming a little so that Jensen could get into his pants as well. "Yeah, well, if this is the last time I've got you to myself for a few days, we'd better make it worth it."

Jensen laughed too, tugging at his shorts a little clumsily, and then rolled them again, so Jared was pressing him into the mattress. "Something like that, yeah."

.

 

They showered together after they got out of bed, and then Jared heated up the leftovers from the night before, always keeping an eye on the clock. Jensen might be clean and fed, but he'd still need to go home to change before he went in to work. They couldn't lie around Jared's place all day, regardless of what Jared wanted.

After Jensen left, Jared went through his notes from class, typing them up into a more formal outline on his laptop. He was taking American History in this part of the summer, and he spent an hour or so finding quotes for his paper. He'd taken American Lit in the first summer semester, and retreading the same time period in a different discipline was boring, but at least it meant he already knew some of what he wanted to say in his paper.

Jensen texted him a few times from the store ( _did i leave my boxers @ ur place?_ , and then, when Jared answered that he had, _u can jerk off to them tonite, its ok_ ), but otherwise, Jared tried to get his work done. After he finished his paper, he went to get his car's oil changed, and then bought some groceries, making sure to buy Jensen's favorite kind of cereal. He called Chad, thinking they could get dinner, but between the two of them and Kenzie, they couldn't come up with a single thing they all wanted. Instead, he wound up having frozen pizza in front of the TV, texting increasingly ridiculous that's-what-she-said's with Chad, who'd wound up at the fondue place Kenzie wanted to try.

It wasn't his most exciting night, but he wasn't looking forward to the start of his 7:30 shift the next morning, and at 9:00, when Jensen would be kicking out the night's last customers, Jared took his phone and a beer onto his balcony. It was dark out, and the worst of the day's heat had gone with the light, so that it was warm, instead of sweltering. Someone was barbecuing, although Jared couldn't see where, and the guys in the next building over had turned their music up the way they did around this time every day. It'd be a few minutes still before Jensen would call, assuming he was going to in the first place, but this was one of Jared's favorite parts of the day. He didn't mind sitting out here and waiting.

It was after 9:30 when Jensen did call, and Jared smiled down at Jensen's face in his phone's display for a moment before answering. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," Jensen answered. Jared could hear the radio playing quietly in the background, and guessed Jensen was in his car.

"Work go okay?"

"God, you tell me. That guy from the bookstore in Harling Glen came and cleared out the clearance rack again."

Jared snorted, glad as ever to have dodged that bullet. "When'd he come in?"

"About twenty til nine," Jensen said. "He filled up two carts and then wound up getting in Ana's line."

Jared frowned. "Oh, ouch."

"Yeah." Jensen huffed into the phone. "I mean, she did fine, but he's a shitty customer to get your first night on the register."

"You on your way to get Danneel?" Jared asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Sure am. Her flight actually gets in in about five minutes, so she's gonna have to wait for a while."

"Shouldn't be too bad," Jared said. "The store's barely fifteen minutes from the airport to begin with."

"Yeah, I'm already on the freeway." He hummed, the way he usually did when he was changing lanes. "What'd you do tonight?"

Jared filled him in, and they wound up talking about his paper for a while as Jensen drove into the airport and parked outside Danneel's gate.

"I can go over it for you, if you want," Jensen offered.

Jared laughed. "I doubt that's how you planned on spending your night."

"Danneel's gotta put her bags back in her room and stuff."

"Nah, don't worry about it. I already emailed it in," Jared said. "Besides, it's been how long since you finished school? I'm probably more on top of it than you would be."

"Yeah, fuck you," Jensen said, laughing. "Alright, she's coming out now. I gotta go, man."

"Have fun," Jared said. "Remember to hydrate."

"I'll call you later," Jensen said. "Night, Jared."

Jared could hear him talking to Danneel for a moment before the call ended, and then he put his phone into his pocket, stretching out his legs and enjoying the night for a while.

.

 

His phone rang again in the middle of the night, where it'd been charging on his bedside table. Jared fumbled a little to get to it: it was Jensen's face on the screen, and he snorted as he answered it.

"H'lo?"

"Hey," Jensen said, drawing out the word. "Were you sleeping?"

Jared snorted again. "It's three in the morning, man. Yeah, I was sleeping."

"Sorry," Jensen said. "Shit, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Uh huh," Jared said. "Good night, I guess?"

"Yeah." Jensen's voice sounded about an octave deeper than usual. "Wish you'd been here."

"Next time." Jared closed his eyes, still sleepy. Jensen's voice in his ear, a deep constant murmur, relaxed him further. "Bet you're glad you've got tomorrow off."

"You don't even know," he said. "You're off when, three?"

"Mm hmm."

"You should come over," Jensen said. "I'll cook. You can meet Danny. We can fool around. It'll be awesome."

"I'm assuming you just mean you and me fooling around," Jared said, amused, "and not all three of us."

Jensen snorted, then dissolved into laughter. Jared grinned himself, holding the phone slightly away from his ear until Jensen calmed. "I dunno, Danny's into some pretty kinky shit, sometimes." He chuckled a few moments longer. "Did I ever tell you about this one night, when she and I were still together, that we —"

"Jensen," Jared interrupted. "I'm mostly okay with you living with your hot ex, and drinking with her and whatever, but you're not helping with that when you get into the drunken reminiscing."

"You're such a cock block sometimes."

"Uh huh," Jared said, shaking his head. "You should hang up and get some sleep, man, before you embarrass yourself worse than you already have."

"Probably." Jensen sounded pretty agreeable about it.

"Drink some water. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Jensen said, his voice getting low again. "Night, man."

"Night," Jared said. He didn't hang up immediately, and he could hear Jensen, breathing noisily, on the other end, before he ended the call. Jared sighed, smiling to himself, and unplugged the phone's charger cord. He put the phone on his chest and concentrated on its electronic heat against his bare skin until he fell back asleep.

.

 

Jared went directly to Jensen's place after work the next day, without even going back home to change. He had enough stuff at Jensen's place that he could scrounge something up, if he needed.

He studied Danneel's car as he walked past it in the parking lot. Her car had been there the entire time she was in Europe, even while they'd been subletting her room, and Jared had seen it plenty of times. The interior had been cleaned before she left, so there was nothing worth stealing visible, and all the windows were rolled up, and she had a collection of parking stickers on the left side of her windshield, for Texas State at Harling Glen.

Jensen answered the door when Jared knocked, letting him inside and kissing him once the door was closed.

"Hey," he said, and sucked at Jared's bottom lip for a moment more before pulling away. "Work go okay?"

"Just long," Jared said, biting back on the list of petty complaints he'd swapped with Ana as a sort of getting-to-know-you when they both wound up in the break room at the same time. He really doubted Jensen would fire him based on some griping, but he wouldn't have complained to one of the managers about this stuff before they started seeing each other, and he didn't want to push boundaries over minor issues.

"You were the one saying you wanted more hours," Jensen said, and headed to the kitchen. Jared followed, noticing the number of empty glasses on the counters and in the sink. He whistled, low and mockingly.

"Looks like y'all got into it last night," he said, grinning when Jensen rolled his eyes. "Although I already knew that, based on your exciting drunk dial."

"Sorry," Jensen said. "Sorry. Did you get up on time?"

"Yeah," Jared said. "But still, man."

Jensen glanced at him, grinning just slightly, and started rinsing glasses. Jared helped after a moment, bringing them to the sink from around the room.

"So, what were you thinking for tonight?" he asked, loading up the dishwasher.

"Danneel's meeting with one of her professors for dinner, to talk about her research or something, so I figured you and I'll get something to eat, and then we can all three go out." Jensen shrugged. "Or stay in, whatever. I'm not married to the idea, if you want to do something else."

"That sounds good," Jared said. He kept himself from yawning with an effort, then checked the time on the microwave clock. "When did you get outta bed?"

"About noon," Jensen answered, and Jared groaned. At noon he'd been stuck on his register, waiting for someone to come take his place so he could go on his lunch break.

"I think I'm gonna crash for a while," he said, scrubbing at his face with one hand. "You wanna come too?"

Jensen grinned, almost a leer, and Jared laughed as he shook his head.

"When we wake up, maybe."

Jensen rolled his eyes but headed with Jared to his bedroom anyway. He paused in front of the closed bathroom door, where it sounded like Danneel was showering. "We're gonna go take a nap," he called through the door.

Jared paused in Jensen's doorway and watched, grinning.

"What?" Danneel hollered back.

Jensen repeated himself, but when she still didn't understand, he cracked the door, so he only had to yell over the water. "We're taking a nap!"

"Oh," she answered. "Okay. See you when I get back."

"Yeah," Jensen said.

"Hi, Jared!" she added, before Jensen could shut the door all the way.

Jared raised his eyebrows at Jensen, who only shrugged, so Jared called back, "Hey!" He tried not to think about the fact that he'd had his first real interaction with Danneel while she was in the shower, and went on to Jensen's room with him, stripping down to his boxers and getting into bed. He could hear the water pounding on and on, on the other side of the wall, until he fell asleep with Jensen curled up right behind him.

.

 

Jensen, who'd only been awake for a few hours before getting back into bed, and hadn't been on his feet most of the day in the first place, was out of bed again when Jared woke up. He stretched, over-heated and a little groggy from sleeping in the middle of the day, and got up as well. He stepped into his jeans out of habit, and found Jensen in the kitchen, sitting at the table and doing something on his laptop. He glanced up at Jared when he came in and smiled.

"I was just thinking about coming to get you," he said. "You really must've been tired."

"I think your bed's softer than mine," Jared said. "What'd you want to do for dinner?"

"Just using me for my bed and my food," Jensen said. "I see how it is."

Jared raised an eyebrow at him until he shook his head and got up from the table.

"Sandwiches." Jensen took a plate out of the microwave, offering it to Jared.

"Uh." He took it and stared at the food while Jensen dug in one of the cabinets. "Did you put — is this butter, on the outside of the bread?"

"Yep." Jensen got out a frying pan and turned on the stove, and the pieces clicked together for Jared, a few beats after they should have: grilled sandwiches. He hummed appreciatively and looked inside one of the sandwiches: some sort of deli meat, with red onion rings and avocado chunks beneath slices of pale cheese.

"Looks good," he said, and it was true; he always ate well at Jensen's place. Jared put the plate on the counter, within Jensen's reach.

"Grab me a Shiner, would you?" he asked, nodding towards the fridge. Jared got a bottle of beer for Jensen and one for himself as well, and opened them both before passing Jensen's over.

"I thought we were going out for drinks later," he said, even though he leaned against the counter and started on his own bottle.

"Yeah, but that's like." Jensen made a face and waved his spatula in the air. " _Later_. Doesn't mean we can't get started now."

"I bet you never even sobered up," Jared teased. He hopped on the counter and, when Jensen flipped the sandwiches so the other side sizzled in the pan, pulled Jensen to stand between his legs.

"I sobered up plenty while you were at work." Jensen put his bottle down and leaned up to kiss Jared. "Come on, none of us have anything to do tomorrow, and you two are some of my very favorite people. We're having fun tonight. So shut it."

Jared laughed and kissed him for a while, scooting to the edge of the counter to press himself closer to Jensen. He could taste the beer on Jensen's tongue — strange that he even noticed, with the same flavor in his own mouth — and he sucked at whatever he could manage. Jensen's lips, his tongue, the scratchy line of his jaw. His dick was starting to twitch when a key turned in the front door. Jensen pulled back but not away, but now that he wasn't distracted, Jared could smell the sandwiches starting to burn.

"Get those," he said, and hopped down from the counter. Spread-legged, shirtless, and freshly kissed wasn't exactly how he wanted to meet Danneel for the first time face to face.

"Hey," Jensen called to her, still in the living room. "How'd it go?"

"Great," Danneel answered. There was a clatter, as Jared guessed she put her things down, and then she came into the kitchen.

Jared had seen pictures of her, of course — he'd skimmed through her albums on Facebook, and there were snapshots of her and Jensen throughout the apartment — but she'd looked almost like a different woman in each of them, with her hair a variety of shades and her face seemingly never in the same expression twice. She was gorgeous in person, with her hair dyed the same deep brown he'd seen in her most recent pictures, and an easy smile on her face. She was wearing dark jeans and a blazer, although she'd already taken off whatever shoes she'd worn to dinner. She glanced at Jared at she passed him on her way to Jensen, and wrapped one arm around him after he slid the sandwiches onto plates. Jensen leaned down to kiss her cheek, smiling.

"Good," he said, and then backed away, looking back towards Jared.

"Hey," he said, and stepped forward, holding a hand out to her. He and Jensen hadn't met any of each other's family yet, but this felt just about as important.

"Hey." She shook his hand for a moment, smiling as she squeezed his hand, and then pulled him in closer, wrapping him in a hug. "I've heard a lot about you," she said, once they let go.

"Hopefully all good," Jared said, glancing towards Jensen.

"Hey, as soon as you start giving me good things to talk about, I'll start telling em to people," Jensen said.

"You're hilarious." Jared rolled his eyes, grinning a little, before turning back to Danneel. "It's been all good stuff about you, anyway."

"Well, then he hasn't told you nearly as much he could've," Danneel said, grinning, "but I appreciate the thought."

Jensen carried their beers to the table and put them next to the plates. "Are you still hungry? I can make some for you."

"I see how it is," she said, then crossed the room to pour herself a glass of water. "Nah, I'll wait. I'm still full."

Jared put the pan into the sink and ran a little water into it, then sat. Jensen joined him and patted the table, looking at Danneel. "You at least wanna sit with us?"

She shook her head. "I have a couple calls to make, sorry. I'll come out when I'm done, though."

Jensen nodded, and she refilled her glass before heading out of the kitchen. "Nice meeting you, Jared," she said on her way out.

"You too," he called after her, and then took a big drink of his beer.

Jensen laughed. "C'mon, it can't have been that traumatizing."

Jared shook his head after he swallowed. "No, it was fine. She seems pretty cool."

"Yeah, she's a fun girl." Jensen turned and looked at the fridge, at the slew of pictures covering the door. "I'm lucky she still wants to hang out with me."

Jared looked at them as well, at all the shots of Jensen and Danneel with their arms tight around each other, mugging for the camera. They'd barely seemed noteworthy when the hot girl pressed against Jensen was on another continent, working her way through one library after another and only updating her Facebook status to discuss the most recent edits on her thesis, but Jared had to make himself look away now that he'd seen for himself how easy Jensen and Danneel were with each other.

"Yeah," he said after a moment, and turned to waggle his eyebrows at Jensen over the top of his sandwich. "Who'd do that otherwise?"

Jensen kicked him under the table, but left his foot in place, with one ankle hooked around Jared's. Neither of them pulled away as they finished eating.

.

"Shh," Danneel hissed, stage-whispering, at Jared and Jensen as they tried to get the door unlocked. Danneel's keys were still inside the apartment, left behind so she could put her phone in her pocket and not need to take a purse, but Jensen, who'd given his keys to Jared without any prompting before they'd even finished dessert at the first restaurant of the night, was still trying to unlock the door. Jared was pressed close behind him, trying to get the key away from him and simultaneously rub up against his body.

"You're gonna wake up the neighbors," Danneel continued, leaning against the wall next to the door and watching them.

"The old neighbors moved out," Jensen said, and then cursed under his breath before giving the key to Jared. Jared nuzzled the side of his neck and slid his free hand under Jensen's shirt while he let them inside. "The new guys are a bunch of college kids. I think they go to TSHG too, actually."

"Oh," Danneel said, tugging her tube top up slightly before following them inside. "We lucked out there, I guess. Do they party a lot?"

"Not too bad," Jensen said. He flopped down on the couch, kicking out of his shoes and letting them clunk onto the floor, and Jared snorted. He locked the door and went into the kitchen, first putting Jensen's keys on the counter and then pouring them all glasses of water. Danneel smiled at him as she took hers, and then pulled a bottle of whiskey from a cabinet above the fridge.

"I thought we'd decided on tequila," Jared said.

"No limes," she answered. "Plus, the only salt we have is actually Mrs. Dash, and that doesn't work."

"I guess not," Jared said, and followed her into the living room.

Jensen sat up on the center couch cushion when they came in, making room on either side of him. He slid one hand heavily into Jared's lap when he sat down, palming his thigh, and Jared was still sober enough to glance at Danneel before he was willing to really relax into the touch. She just plopped down and sighed enormously as she toed out of her heels, then flexed her toes a few times. She seemed too involved in her feet to pay much attention to Jensen's wandering hands, and Jared mentally shrugged before drinking more of his water.

"I don't know why you moved the TV to that wall," Danneel said after a moment, pointing to the entertainment center. "I keep expecting it to be by the kitchen."

"It doesn't get the glare over there," Jensen said. He rubbed his thumb once over Jared's inseam and then leaned forward to open the whiskey.

"It used to be over there?" Jared asked, turning around to look at the wall separating the living room from the kitchen. A bookshelf and a desk had been there since the first time Jared came over to Jensen's place, and he had a hard time picturing the room any other way.

"It got a lot of glare." Jensen poured poured three shots slowly, being exaggeratedly careful, and then passed them around. Jared shuddered as he drank, and he shook his head when Jensen waggled the bottle, offering refills.

"I think I'm done for the night," he said, and settled further back against the couch.

"I probably should be," Danneel said, rolling her glass between her palms.

"Come on," Jensen said, and he leaned away from Jared to rest against Danneel instead. "You were more fun before you went to Europe."

"They don't drink like this over there," she protested with a laugh, but then shook her head and held her glass to Jensen, who whooped and poured her another shot. "This is it for me," she said. "And you can hold my hair back for me if it turns out to be a bad idea."

"All your hair ties and shit are still in that one drawer," Jensen said. He poured himself another shot and clinked it against Danneel's, then knocked it back.

"Unhelpful," she said, and drank as well.

Jared shook his head, laughing at the faces they both pulled as they knocked back their shots. "Neither of you looked like you enjoyed that."

Danneel laughed, and Jensen glanced sheepishly over his shoulder at Jared. "You're not going to try to talk me out of taking more, are you?"

"I'm just saying," Jared said. "I am going to laugh at you a lot tomorrow when you're nursing a two-day hangover."

He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and pushed the bottle and his glass to the far side of the table. "Fine," he said, although he sounded cheerful enough. "You can stop the designated act once we get home, you know."

Jared knocked their knees together. "I'm not saying you have to stop, man," he said. "I'm just saying that I would, right about now."

"Dr Pepper," Jensen said a moment later, his face screwed up like he was deep in thought. "I'll have one mixed, and then I'll be done." He braced his hands on his knees, preparing to stand, but then didn't go anywhere. Jared shook his head and stood up himself, beating him to it.

"Stay, man. I'll get it."

He found a can of Dr Pepper in the back of the fridge and then looked around for a glass. They hadn't run the dishwasher after dinner, and it seemed like nothing was clean. Jared went through the cabinets and could only find juice and shot glasses, none of them big enough to mix a drink in, and finally shrugged and opened the Dr Pepper. He took a few sips, making room for Jensen to pour in his whiskey, and headed back into the living room.

He found Danneel and Jensen leaning together on the couch, with his arm around her shoulders and her head on his chest. Jared paused, trying to remind himself that he'd seen pictures of them in similar poses a thousand times, and that this didn't mean anything, but his gaze was drawn to Jensen's hand on her bare arm, and the way Jensen's fingers wrapped almost all the way around her. Maybe it was because he'd never thought of Jensen with a woman even though he'd known about his history with Danneel, and so the image, the idea, was entirely new, or maybe it was just because he was so fond of Jensen's hands, but Jared swallowed hard. Shit, that was hot.

"No, baby, I mean it," Danneel said, and there was a slapping sound as apparently she clapped her hand on Jensen's leg. "He's gorgeous. We should totally pull a Shelby."

Jensen paused for a moment, then collapsed into laughter. "Danny, come on, am I the only one who remembers how that worked out?"

"I remember very clearly how it worked out," Danneel said. "I remember it on a regular basis."

"File that under things I don't need to know," Jensen said.

"I'm just bringing it up," Danneel said, drawing out the vowels as she spoke. "Because he's hot, babe, super hot, and —"

"And you want to get your hands on him, too," Jensen said. "Yeah, I get it."

"One time thing," she said. "It'd be fun. And I bet he'd be into it, too."

At this point, Jared wasn't exactly following the conversation anymore. It didn't seem like Jensen or Danneel were following the conversation very well either, so he didn't worry much about it. Instead, he cleared his throat and walked around the far side of the couch from Danneel, sinking back into his earlier spot. Jensen beamed up at him as he sat down. He slid his free hand back onto Jared's thigh and kissed him, then laughed against his mouth and took the can from Jared. He held it while Jared topped it off with alcohol, and Jensen had taken a few sips before Jared noticed he still had his arm around Danneel.

.

He and Jensen each had the next day off, both from work and school, and neither of them got out of bed before noon. Jared woke up a few times with the sun slanting across the room at a different angle on each occasion, and he heard Jensen dozing restlessly and Danneel eventually get up and drag herself into the bathroom, but it was fully afternoon before Jared got out of bed. Jensen didn't stir when he did, still looking pretty dead to the world, so Jared pulled on yesterday's jeans and one of Jensen's bigger tee shirts and headed to the kitchen by himself.

There was still warm coffee in the pot and Jared poured himself a cup, looking around as he did so. He hadn't seen Danneel anyplace on his way out of Jensen's room, but he also hadn't heard he go back into her own room after the shower turned off. Jared poured himself a bowl of Cheerios and balanced them as carefully as he could atop his coffee mug, and he found Danneel when he headed onto the patio.

"Hey," she said when he slid the door open and joined her at the plastic table outside. It'd be too late in the day to sit outside just for the hell of it, but Jensen's balcony got good shade, so the heat wasn't bad.

"Morning," Jared said, setting his things in the table and sitting down. The lawn chair creaked underneath him just like always, and he kicked his feet out under the table. Usually he propped his feet up in the empty chair, but Danneel was sitting here now. He hair was still damp, and it didn't look like she was wearing a bra under her navy wifebeater. He could see her nipples through the ribbed fabric.

Jared swallowed and made himself see if his coffee had cooked enough to drink yet, instead of checking her out. He was happy with Jensen, and the last thing he wanted to do was fuck things up -- everything up, at work and at home -- just because Jared hadn't been with a woman in a while and Danneel had a great rack. Not to mention it was a dick move to check her out in the first place, considering the circumstances.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked, hoping it was a neutral enough topic of conversation.

She shrugged. "Fell asleep easy enough," she said. "It was staying asleep that was the problem. I kept having to get up and get a glass of water."

"I wish I'd done that," Jared said, and took a deep sip of his coffee, now that it'd cooled some. "I cannot believe how dehydrated I was when I woke up."

"Comes with the territory," Danneel said. She cocked her head to study his face, and her calculating, almost hungry expression made him flush, just like it had when she'd turned it on him the night before. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think we're all too old to drink like that anymore."

"It wasn't even that much!" Jared protested with a laugh, although maybe he was taking it the wrong way. He may have been long past the binge drinking days that'd flunked him out of college the first time around, but he was still years younger than either Jensen or Danneel. "I just don't usually drink that much, is all."

"Again, I think that makes three of us," Danneel said. She picked up an apple slice out of the bowl in front of her and toyed with it but didn't take a bite. "Unless Jensen's taken to drowning his sorrows in my absence or something."

"Not really," Jared said. "The last two nights are really the only time I've seen him drink like that." He took another sip and shrugged. "Actually I was wondering if that's how he normally was with you or something, because it was so out of the ordinary."

"Drinking too much once or twice a year sounds about right," she said. "He bottles things up sometimes and gets it all out at once."

"Huh," Jared said. He hadn't noticed anything like that in the seven months he worked at the store before he and Jensen got together. Maybe he hadn't been paying enough attention; maybe Jensen just hadn't let him see it any of the other times.

"Is it going to be weird for you, that he and I live together?" Danneel asked. Jared almost choked on his bite of cereal, and she grinned and put down her untouched apple slice. "It is sometimes for guys dating either one of us. I've started just trying to get it out in the open as soon as I can."

Jared cleared his throat and shook his head. "I don't think it'll be," he said slowly. "I can't promise it won't be, but I mean -- he's not really into women anymore, right?"

She shrugged, and turned to look out over the parking again instead of at Jared. "Not really my business anymore," she said. "Just, if it's gonna be a problem, you should tell him now."

"That way he can get all his heavy drinking over with at once?" Jared said, trying to make a joke out of the situation. He'd known that Jensen lived with his ex before they got together, and he'd never thought that might be a dealbreaker until Danneel suggested it to him.

He thought about it while Danneel laughed and finally bit into her apple, wanting to at least examine the idea before he dismissed it. It hadn't worried him when Mark had been renting the extra bedroom, and Jensen could have, at least theoretically, been attracted to him. It shouldn't be a bigger deal for Danneel to be on the other side of the wall. Jared kept in regular contact with Sandy and he knew about having an ex you still cared about. Jensen and Danneel had been together years ago, but that didn't have to mean anything now. They'd been apart for even longer.

Jared shook his head and tried to put the thought out of his mind. He drank the rest of his coffee, taking a bigger gulp than he might have otherwise in order to finish it quickly, and then stood with the mug still in hand. "I'm gonna refill this," he said, and nodded towards the door. "You want any more?"

Danneel shook her head. "Thanks, though." She picked her own cup up and held it in both hands, and looked over the edge of the balcony again as Jared went inside. He glanced at the line of her neck one more time, visible since her hair was pulled back, then shook his head and went back inside.

He stopped by Jensen's room instead of going to the kitchen. Jensen was still in bed, although he had his phone in his hand and was frowning at it instead of still sleeping.

"Hey," Jensen said, looking up at Jared and putting his phone down while Jared shut the door. "How long've you been up?"

"Not too long," Jared said. He sat on the edge of the bed and nudged his knee against the side of Jensen's body. "Had sort of a weird talk with Danneel on the porch."

"Weird how?" Jensen said, frowning like he already knew.

"She told me I should break things off with you now, if I'm going to." Jared raised his eyebrows at Jensen. "What's that about?"

"It's happened before," Jensen said, and looked at the ceiling instead of at Jared. "Once bitten, you know?"

"Well, I'm not planning on it," Jared said simply. He leaned over and kissed Jensen on the mouth, keeping his lips closed. Jensen hummed, and Jared thought about just not asking him anything else. But he couldn't keep from remembering the look on Danneel's face when she mentioned it the night before, especially not now that he'd seen that same expression on her while she was mostly sober. So he leaned back and sucked the inside of his cheek before asking, "What exactly would we have to do to pull a Shelby, anyway?"

"Oh christ," Jensen said, and covered his face with his hands. "I was hoping you hadn't noticed that."

"Now I'm really curious," Jared prompted, when Jensen didn't elaborate. He peered at Jared from between his fingers and then shook his head.

"Shelby was a guy Danny dated a few years ago," he said slowly. "The first person she'd been with seriously after the two of us split up. We all three had a little too much to drink one night, and had a threesome. That's pulling a Shelby."

Jared blinked a few times. "Huh," he said. This was his first thought: _Shit, that could really mess things up with me and Jensen_.

 _This was his second: _I wonder if Danneel'd let me eat her out.__

 _"We obviously don't have to," Jensen was saying to the ceiling, still not looking at Jared. "I don't think Danneel was really serious about it."_

 _"Yeah," Jared said. He nudged Jensen into scooting over and lay down next to him, also staring up. "But uh, what if I did want to?"_

 _Jensen turned to face Jared now, but he just kept looking up. "You serious?"_

 _Jared shrugged. "Sorta. I mean, she seems pretty awesome, and I'd probably be into her if I hadn't already met you first." He shrugged again and turned to face Jensen. "I'd have to think it all the way through, but I might be into it."_

 _He didn't know how to read Jensen's expression. "I always forget you're into women, too," he said after a moment._

 _"I'm into you," Jared said, and hooked his ankle over Jensen's. "Seriously, it's no big deal if we don't. Just don't dismiss it on my account, if it's something you want."_

 _"Let's give it a few days," Jensen finally said. Jared nodded and pressed another closed-mouth kiss to his lips, and then they stayed in bed for a while, both of them drifting in and out of sleep. When Danneel came back inside, Jared listened to her moving around on the other side of the wall._

 _._

 _He left Jensen and Danneel's place that afternoon, after showering and splitting a frozen pizza with them. None of the other two had talked much as they ate, but Jared didn't know if they were being awkward around each other, or if this was normal hung-over behavior for them. He went home and did his laundry, trying to get ahead in his reading for class while the clothes spun but mostly thinking about what Danneel had offered, and how Jensen hadn't shot her down. They'd all been drinking, sure, but he wondered if she'd still be interested._

 _He went to bed earlier than usual, trying to make up for the previous night, and walked to school the next morning. Class was never lively on a Monday and Jared had to struggle to keep himself awake. The professor was discussing their final, both the paper they'd have to write and the exam they'd take in person, and Jared appreciated the elaboration, really, but she wasn't saying much that hadn't been on their syllabus all semester long. He fished his phone out of his pocket when she was looking the other way and put it on his desk next to his open book, hoping she wouldn't notice. He began and then erased half a dozen messages to Jensen before finally sending, _hows work going?__

Jensen didn't answer for another hour and a half, when Jared was back at his place and getting dressed for the day's shift noon to six shift. _not bad_ , he sent. _sort of slow & boring. c u here._

 _youre going to make me restock things arent you?_ Jared answered. All he got back was an enthusiastic _:DDDDD_ , but it made him smile while he looked for a second clean sock. Jensen wouldn't send a slew of emoticons if things were awkward between them.

With thirty minutes before he needed to be at the store, Jared frowned into his fridge. He'd gone grocery shopping recently, he'd eaten at Jensen's place a few times over the weekend, and there were still enough leftovers from last week's takeout to make a meal or two out of. But Jared had also spent more than he should have when they went drinking over the weekend, and even though he'd be getting paid this coming Friday, it was the end of the month, and bills would be due soon. He'd have to sit down and do the math later, but he didn't think he could afford more food until the paycheck after next, almost three weeks away. Jared frowned as he moved the takeout boxes into the freezer, hoping the food wouldn't get too freezer-burnt through the styrofoam, and then took a packet of ramen from the cabinet he used as a pantry with him to work.

The car's engine wouldn't start up right away. Jared turned off the radio, turned the A/C dial all the way to _off_ even though it didn't work in the first place, and held his breath as he pumped the gas, but finally, it roared to life. Jared sagged in relief, and if the steering wheel hadn't been so hot it hurt his hands, he would have leaned his forehead against it for a moment. As it was, he rolled down his windows and headed off, stopping to buy ten bucks of gas on the way to the store.

The bell over the door jingled when he went inside, and Ana, behind the register, called a greeting before she looked up from her transaction and recognized him. Jared put his things in the break room and clocked in without seeing Jensen around, then went back to the front to take Ana's place for her break.

"It's been slow today," she said, while her last customer's receipt printed.

"Give it a week," Jared said, standing behind her while she signed off the register. "We'll have plenty of people in here once the summer semester ends, and then before the fall one starts up."

"That's what people keep saying," she said. "I thought it got busy last night while we were closing, but Louis said it wasn't bad."

"Bad can be relative if you're working the aisles and not the register," Jared said. They switched places, Jared stepping in front of the counter and Ana moving out from behind the desk. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Fifteen minutes, right?" she asked.

"You already took your lunch?" Jared asked, double-checking. When she nodded, he did as well in response. "Then it's fifteen minutes."

Ana nodded and headed towards the employees only door at the back of the store, and Jared smiled at the next guy in line.

Jensen stopped by the register right when Ana came back, so he caught Jared right in between tasks. "I don't think we'll need both of you checking people out right now, so I want you to work on marking down some clearance," he said, without meeting Jared's gaze for more than a second. Jared nodded and followed him to the clearance shelves lining the side of the store farthest from the windows, where sure enough there was a stack of crates, all full of books. Jensen handed him a few sheets of clearance stickers and nodded to the books. "You have any questions?"

"Not about the stickers," Jared said. He leaned down slightly to try to catch Jensen's eyes, and Jensen let him after a moment, raising his eyebrows and grinning just a little. "Maybe some about other things, though."

"Is there something else?" Jensen asked, lifting his eyebrows higher. They'd both been making an effort not to allude to their outside relationship while they were at work, and so they almost never did this, talking in code about something else entirely.

Jared shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "I've gotta think about it some more, I think."

"Well," Jensen said after a pause, "I'm here until 3:30, if you get it figured out." Jared nodded, pretty sure that the most important part of that sentence was that Jensen would be gone at 3:30, and they could text once Jared went on his break.

"Okay," Jared said.

Repricing merchandise for clearance took a long time, even though it was easy work, and Jared was still going through the crates when Jeff, the closing manager for the night, came in. He'd made more progress when Jensen left, but he hadn't finished yet by 4:00, when it was time to take his break. Jared tidied up and moved the final crate out of the way, then carried the empty ones back to the loading dock on his way to the break room. He put his ramen in the microwave and then fished out his phone while he waited.

 _did things get awkward with shelby?_ he sent Jensen.

 _no,_ Jensen answered almost immediately, but then he followed it up with another text: _well eventually, but only b/c he left d for some1 else_

 _huh_ , Jared sent.

 _thats not what pulling a shelby means btw. only the 3some_

Jared got his soup out of the microwave and stirred it while he tried to figure out what to say next. _i'm interested_ , he settled on. _but i don't want it to fuck things up_

 _me neither. want me to talk to d about it?_

Jared stared down at the phone for a long moment before sending back, _yeah_

.

Jensen and Danneel's cars were both in the parking lot when Jared showed up a few days later. Jensen had stayed with him the night before, and he hadn't seen Danneel since breakfast the previous weekend. They'd played phone tag for a while, both of them leaving innocuous messages on the other's voicemail but never actually discussing anything. Jared took a few deep breaths after he turned off the car, but he couldn't make himself get out yet. He wiped his sweaty hands on his shorts and jiggled his right knee, bumping into the steering wheel, but he didn't do anything more than stare at the side of their building until their door opened, and Jensen came outside.

"Shit," Jared murmured, and finally climbed out. He tried not to seem like he was rushing as he locked the door, but Jensen was grinning when he reached the car and brushed one hand against Jared's side.

"You freaking out?" he asked. Jared glanced at him and Jensen shrugged. "Because from inside, it looked like you were freaking out."

"I've never done this before," Jared said, and left it at that.

"We don't have to," Jensen said, and shrugged. "Or we can take a raincheck and do it later. Up to you."

Jared sucked at the inside of his cheek for a second and then grinned back, around his nervousness. "Nah, let's do this," he said. "It'll be good."

Danneel was on the couch with her feet tucked up underneath her when they got inside, facing the TV even though she wasn't watching anything. She stood when the door closed and smiled, crossing the living room to join them. She was just wearing jeans and a tee shirt, but it was Jensen's shirt, and it made Jared's mouth water a little.

"Hey," she said, and paused once she got into their personal space. She looked from Jared's face to Jensen's, and when neither of them said anything, she laughed and shook her head. "So, yes?"

"Yeah," Jensen said, grinning.

"Good," Danneel said, and then she put her hand on the back of Jared's neck and pushed up onto her bare toes to kiss him. Her lips were dry against his own, but she hummed when Jared took her bottom lip gently between both of his, and steadied herself with her other hand at his hip. Jared glanced towards Jensen the best he could and found him watching with a smile, and then he closed his eyes and kissed her again, sliding one arm carefully around her waist. He reached out to Jensen with the other and Jensen wound their fingers together, stepping closer so Jared could lean against him if he wanted.

It'd been a long dry spell before Jensen, and while Jared hadn't precisely _forgotten_ what it was like to kiss a woman, things were distinctly different than what he was used to. Jensen's cheeks and chin were never as smooth as Danneel's were, even if he still had the last traces of shaving cream on his face as Jared kissed him, and the heavy weight of breasts pressing against his chest were new again, as well. But Danneel must have used Jensen's shampoo that morning as well as his shirt, because she smelled like him, and when she opened her mouth and sucked on Jared's tongue, she tasted like his toothpaste as well.

They pulled away eventually. Jared stood there with his eyes closed for a moment before opening them and finding Danneel had sunk back onto her heels, and Jensen with his other arm looped around her shoulders.

"Just like that?" he said, glancing back and forth between the other two.

"We can stand here and be awkward at each other some more," she said, even while she moved slightly closer to both of them. "Or we can go to bed."

She smiled at Jared and then turned her face up to Jensen, and Jared felt both his hands clench down when they kissed, tightening his fingers around Jensen's and getting a good handful of the back of Danneel's shirt. It wasn't jealously precisely, but he'd never seen Jensen kiss a woman before, although he knew it'd happened plenty back in the day. He knew Jensen had dated girls in high school, lost his virginity to his first girlfriend in college, lived with Danneel for more than a year before they split up and then moved back in on a platonic basis, but Jared had never pictured any of it before this. They obviously remembered what they were doing, each of them tilting their heads smoothly and automatically, and Jensen tightened his arm around Danneel's shoulders, tugging her closer. Jared swallowed and relaxed his hands, moving the one touching Danneel down enough that he could slide his fingers beneath the hem of the tee shirt, and squeezed Jensen's fingers again, instead of smashing.

"Good?" Jensen said, pulling back and turning his face enough to make it clear he was addressing Jared. Jared leaned and kissed him, somehow not surprised that Jensen was the only one wearing lip balm, and then nodded.

"Yeah," he said.

"My bed's bigger," Danneel said. She disentangled herself and headed off without waiting for further discussion.

Jensen raised his eyebrows at Jared, who pulled at his hand until Jensen swung around, pressing his chest and thighs and hard-on against Jared. Jared palmed the back of his neck with his free hand and lowered his face to kiss him again, practically gnawing at his lips. Jensen laughed a little into his mouth, grinding their hips together, and then started walking them backwards.

They bumped into the wall in the hallway a few times, and Jared tried to steer them into Jensen's room out of force of habit, but they finally separated long enough to make it through Danneel's door instead, to find her already naked on the bed. She was spread out with her head on the pillows and her feet planted, her thighs far apart as she slid one finger steadily across the hood of her clit. Jared thought he might have made some sort of noise, based on how Jensen laughed, but he couldn't look away for a long moment.

"Took you long enough," she said, and brought her other hand up to squeeze at one nipple. "Get over here, how about."

Jensen laughed and started slowly unbuttoning his shirt, but Jared had made sure to wear clothes he could get out of easily, and he'd tugged his tee shirt over his head and kicked out of his shorts and boxers by the time Jensen, still dressed from the waist down, was toeing out of his shoes.

He dropped to his knees at the foot of the bed and just looked up at Danneel, wrapping a hand around one of her ankles. Her skin was soft under his fingers, shaved where he and Jensen were both hairy, and he stroked his thumb back and forth while he palmed her other thigh, a few inches above her knee. She moved her leg further, flattening her knee to the bed, and Jared licked his lips, staring up at her cunt: pink and wet, musky, and he could snatches of her clit as every slow circle of her finger moved her hood around.

"Can I?" he asked, talking to both of them and leaning forward.

"That's sort of the point," Jensen behind him, and Danneel stopped rubbing herself in order to reach down with both hands and spread her labia apart for him, saying, "I was just gonna ask you the same thing."

He climbed all the way onto the bed and buried his face in her thigh. He'd wanted to catch his breath, but the smell of her so close did nothing to calm him down, and so he gave up and moved again, putting one hand on each of her thighs. He licked a wide stripe between her lips and then did it again when she whined and bucked — almost as if it was too much, but he rubbed his thumbs over her again and licked her steadily a few times more until she grabbed a handful of his hair and started tugging him into her pussy, and thrusting up against him.

Jared pulled back just enough to look for Jensen, but when the bed dipped behind him, Jared turned back to Danneel. He hadn't even touched her clit yet, aside from accidentally bumping it with his nose, and he was focusing on trying to thrust his tongue all the way inside her when Jensen put his hands on Jared's hips, tugging slightly.

"Lift up," he said quietly.

Jared did, spreading his knees for good measure as well, and moaned when Jensen pushed a slick finger into his ass without any preamble. Danneel laughed above him, and Jared almost wondered if Jensen was making one of the stupid concentrating faces he pulled sometimes during sex, but Jensen worked another finger into him as well and spread them apart as far as he could, tugging at the sensitive rim of his asshole.

"You should finger her too, babe," Jensen said, again in the same quiet voice as before. "I'd start her with three, drove her crazy, but you'd better give her two to start, fingers like yours."

"Shit," Jared mumbled, and tried to rearrange himself to get a hand up by his face. Danneel was breathing harder now and she put her other hand into his hair as well, clenching her fingers almost painfully as Jared moved. He mouthed up from her labia to lap at her clit with the flat of his tongue. She arched and then relaxed against the bed, and when she was slightly more still again, Jared rubbed at her slit with two fingers before pushing them inside.

Just the way Jensen said she would like it; just the way Jensen was doing to Jared.

"Oh, fuck, fuck fuck, Jensen," she said, more of a moan than anything else, and then her legs flexed as the rest of her body clenched up, coming almost immediately around Jared's fingers. He tried to lick her through it but she pushed his head away and kept thrusting against his fingers instead. Jared leaned back enough to watch her cunt twitch and tighten around his fingers, and then he dropped his head to her hip as Jensen worked into another finger. Maybe it was two more fingers; at this point, Jared had lost count.

"I don't know how you still remember that," Danneel said once she'd caught her breath slightly. She was still tightening around Jared's fingers and hadn't done anything to make him think she wanted to stop, so he stayed where he was, trying to breath through the stretch in his ass.

"Because it made you come like flipping a switch," Jensen said, slightly out of breath. "You have condoms in here, or do I need to go get one?"

Danneel fumbled in her bedside table and found one, and Jared leaned in again, sucking gently at her lips next to his fingers while Jensen put the rubber on one-handed.

"You good, babe?" Jensen asked a moment later. Jared let go of Danneel with a faint smacking sound and lowered his head to the sheets between her thighs, canting his ass further up in the air.

"Yeah," he said, and tried to keep breathing through the intensity of the first thrust as Jensen pushed his way inside.

"Oh, my god," Danneel said. She must have been impressed with how Jensen looked, because Jared wasn't doing anything special to her at the moment, but then Jensen pulled most of the way out and then thrust until his body was flush against Jared's again, and Jared stopped wondering about it. He started rubbing against the inside of Danneel's body again and pressed a third finger into her, remembering what Jensen told him, and kept stroking her like that — with his eyes closed and his face buried in the sheets that smelled like all three of them — until she came again.

Danneel rolled away after that, panting, and Jensen paused to nudge Jared further up the bed, so that he could carefully climb up onto the mattress as well instead of standing on the floor. He leaned over Jared and laced their fingers together while they fucked. He moaned when Jared turned his head enough to kiss him. Jensen sucked at his tongue, even though he must have still tasted like Danneel, and they stayed like that until Jared's neck started to hurt. He dropped his head back to the sheets, and laughed, surprised, when Danneel appeared next to them. She reached between Jared's legs and pulled as his dick, and the angle was weird, but her hand on his cock combined with Jensen leaning all around him was enough to get Jared there in no time. He arched his back as he came, spurting through Danneel's fingers and onto her sheets, and Jensen fucked him steadily throughout, not letting Jared buck him out of his rhythm for even a single stroke.

Danneel nudged him after she pulled her hand away, and he turned his head enough to kiss her while he tried to catch his breath, while Jensen's thrusts started to speed and shorten. After a while, though, Jared shook his head and pressed himself onto his elbows again as he turned to look behind him.

"Stop," he said, and Jensen frowned, groaning and already starting to tremble from the need to keep moving, as he held himself still.

"Are you —" he started, and then shook his head. "Jared, what, what's the matter?"

"I want you to finish in my mouth," he said, and laughed through the sudden and not entirely pleasant pop as Jensen pulled his cock quickly free. "I guess that's okay with you."

"Hell yeah," Jensen said. He tugged off the condom while Jared rolled over, and then climbed onto the bed and knee-walked up Jared's body to kneel above his chest without being prompted. "Like this?"

Jared opened his mouth in response. He tried to tilt his head back, opening up his throat, as Jensen slipped his dick between his lips. He tasted like latex, but Jared sucked at him to try to get the taste off, and then his mouth was full of Jensen's come instead.

.

They moved from the middle of the bed to the pillows after a while, and lay there in a pile while everyone came down. Jared wound up on his back in the middle, with Danneel tucked under one arm and Jensen pressing close enough from the other side as if he could get across the essence of spooning even if the position was wrong. None of them said anything for a while, but eventually Danneel stretched and sat up, sitting on the edge of the bed and turning to look down at them.

"So," she said, "we're all still cool, right?"

Jared nodded and turned onto his side after all, letting Jensen nudge his hips against Jared's sore ass. "Far as I'm concerned, yeah."

"Good," she said, and walked naked to her closet. Jared pushed up on one elbow to watch her go, and Jensen laughed as he stayed put. "I'm gonna shower, but y'all can crash here for a while if you want. Just put the sheets in the wash for me if you're still here when I leave, okay?"

"Sure thing," Jensen said. He tightened his arm around Jared's waist and Jared relaxed back onto the bed. When Danneel left for the bathroom with an armful of clothes and towels, he sighed and rolled over again, this time facing Jensen.

"That was a good idea, right?" Jared asked. He was pretty damn happy with how it turned out, but regardless of what Jensen told Danneel, he wanted all the certainty he could get.

"Right," Jensen said. He kissed Jared once, a few more times, and then pulled back once the shower kicked on. "We should probably move to my room."

"Yeah," Jared said, but made no move to get up. They'd already gotten these sheets perfectly warm, and he knew he wouldn't be able to get this comfortable on the other side of the wall.

Jensen didn't say anything for a while, and Jared closed his eyes. Jensen's arm tightened around his waist, and Jared slid his leg further between Jensen's. It was too soon for another round, but he still wanted as much contact as he could get.

"So," Jensen said sometime later, although not so late Danneel had turned off the shower. "Is it too soon for jokes about that's why you should move in with me?"

Jared groaned and kicked him, then laughed. "I'm pretty sure it'll always be too soon for that," he said, and then asked, "Would you want us to live here with her?"

He shrugged, jostling Jared slightly. "We don't have to, but yeah, I guess. That's how I always pictured it."

"Huh." Jared thought about it. "Wouldn't be weird, living with someone we'd slept with?"

"Dude, I'm doing that already," Jensen said, sounding amused. "And I know we said one-time thing, but I bet that's up for negotiation."

"Huh," Jared repeated. The water cut off then, and Jensen reached for a blanket to pull over their waists, but neither of them moved otherwise as Danneel came back into her room, dressed but damp, a few minutes later. She hummed a little as she looked through her drawers, but Jared thought that Jensen's roommate might be a reason _to_ move in, instead of a reason not to.

"Yeah," he told Jensen quietly, and watched him smile while Danneel climbed back onto the bed, nudging Jared with her hip so he'd make room for her, too.


End file.
